NPC (GM Run) Factions

[Parmenion]

DK,

Could you please list what factions you are currently runing as GM in order for us, the players to understand what is happening with them.  This includes the Dragoons (if your still running them).  And what is your goal in divesting yourselves of most of these factions (I can understand why the GMs would retain control of the TH). Thanks.

Additionally, what is your intent in regards the Lryan+Falcons v's Adder war?  How do you intend to run with that, considering you are currently managing all three factions?

I still don't see the reasoning behind the absorption of the Marian Hegemony into the LA.  Is GI Journalist quitting the game?  To my mind, it is merely concentrating resources into a superpower when for some time (if I recall correctly), the Lyrans and Marins didn't really like each other much.

 

[Daemonknight]

The LA/CSA war is basiclly going to end at the conclusion of the turn, because I have no desire to fight a war against myself. The MH thing was GI's idea because he felt he was going to simply keep getting beat on as 'the pirate faction' unless he had some form of legitimacy(ie marrying into a respected noble house). I still need to work out what he wants to do before that actually proceeds.

The current list of GM factions:
The Wolf's Dragoons
The Lyran Alliance+Clan Jade Falcon
The Federated Suns
Clan Star Adder
Terran Hegemony

For now, the TH and LA are staying GM factions. The Star Adders, FedSuns, and the independant Combat commands of the Dragoons are still availible to be taken by new players.

[Parmenion]

Mmmmm... what about the Star League Defence Force.  They should have a sizeable strength by now (a couple of Corps, especially if they received the 20 year leap bonus).  Who has them?

[Daemonknight]

The SLDF is not a playable faction.

[Parmenion]

Given the above, I'd like to take up the Federated Suns and run them until such time as a new player comes along and wants to play a woman who wears pants 

[Fatebringer]

I recommend that Marlin be allowed to form his official alliance with the Adders that he was talking about. The adders sitting around like a hunk of play doh will be detrimental to both the adders and the hellions.

In that vein, Marlin would be the "Allies" of the Adders as he has been playing, but would not be absorbed or anything. He would run the Adders, and his Hellions not just be left hanging out to dry by a non active faction.

If he doesn't want to do it or if someone else doesn't step up. I'll do orders only for them, just to keep them active. I would recommend someone else play the Khans like Chaos or a player who isn't as involved in that sector of space like Parm.

But we can't let the Falcons go on attacking everyone without them standing up to them. Or it will be like a game of risk where your just gobbling up the nuetral faction until their all gone and no one wants to see these Adders go out like that.

[Daemonknight]

Given the above, I'd like to take up the Federated Suns and run them until such time as a new player comes along and wants to play a woman who wears pants 

you are already running more factions than I want people running

[Daemonknight]

And I already addressed the Adders-Lyrans situation earlier in this thread. The reason the war is stopping is because they currently don't have a player. And the Hellions got themselves into this mess by attacking the Falcons for no reason, other than to stick their nose into the LA-CSA conflict.

[Parmenion]

Given the above, I'd like to take up the Federated Suns and run them until such time as a new player comes along and wants to play a woman who wears pants 

you are already running more factions than I want people running

And... because as I recall, you had four factions (including the Dragoons) when you were a player.  Given the workload of running the TH, LA, FS, SLDF, CSA, WD and JF properly, I would think it wise that you offload some of these responsibilities.

[Holt]

DK if you need any help with guest running factions, just send me a PM.

[chaosxtreme]

If a Khan is needed I can do that. But I would prefer if a faction is being offloaded on me it be someone neutral like the Goon's which if I took them over would go on the market to the highest bidder for x turn's rinse repeat.

That being said I can be impartial and wherever I am needed I can help out.

- Chaos

[Dave Baughman]

Guys, I just want to throw a couple of things out there.

First, we (the staff) very much appreciate you stepping up to take on more responsibility. This is something we're discussing internally but a big problem is adjacent factions. We have a "player distribution" situation where a lot of the players who are in the best position to help out by playing another faction are already adjacent to the factions we most need the help with.

Second, I have a serious quesiton for you guys: as you may have discerned from the marketing poll I put up, I am seriously thinking about trying to do some outside marketing and really making a serious attempt to recruit from outside our immediate social group. The staff is going to need solid faction leaders in charge of the big factions to help new players get up to speed (in fact, we are probably going to need to organize a boot camp mini-game to teach folks how to play, since rules aquisition has been a major barrier to entry in the past). So I put it to you---

"In the near future (next six months) how many of you would be willing to consider changing factions on a more or less permanent basis to become part of the 'foundation' of veteran players running the big factions?"

Question 2:

"Do you believe that keeping the full range of current factions is more important than having an experienced player at the head of each major faction?"

Question 2B:

"If not, and you are an experienced player currently running a faction that isn't in the 1st tier of power (i.e. other than FS, DC, CC, FWL, LA, ND, HA, CSA), would you be willing to see your faction absorbed into a larger one in order to get the number of factions down to a manageable number?"

Note that the TH is not on my list of "factions that we need if we are to move the plot forward."

Question 2C:

"If it would provide the...

• Faction rebalance
• Detailed storyline update
• New plot hooks
• Resolution of old plot hooks
• Rules refresh
• Sufficient story reboot to allow new players to jump in and not be overwhelmed

"...That the 3090 reboot didn't provide, would you tolerate a second time jump (~5 years, lets say) within the next 6-8 months of real time?"


Question 2D

"Would you rather I shut up and just work on the GIC wiki?"





OK, that last question was a joke, but seriously - the staff needs your honest opinions here. If we do a recruiting drive, you guys are going to be the anchor for the new players and how you feel about these important questions is going to be a major factor in how the staff sets up the drive.




Oh, I almost forgot, the REAL question 2D

"When we do the recruiting drive, do you support some sort of 'referral program' where a player who brings in new people gets an in-game reward if those players become permanent members of the game?"

[Parmenion]

ADJACENT BORDERS
I’m sorry Dave, but I raised that particular issue a couple of cycles ago and lost.  Therefore with precedent set, I fail to see how it can be an issue for one player and not for another.


Q1 (Changing factions)
Not very willing (read it as no thank you).  Back at turn zero I was privileged enough to be allowed to become a Hell’s Horseman and a Magistracy of Canopus player.  I haven’t come and gone, and come back again.  I’ve stayed with these two factions throughout, never moving around, even as the Hell’s Horses joined with the Outworlds Alliance in a GM sanctioned move.

Q2 (keeping full range of factions)
In the main, yes.  Including an independent Marian Hegemony. 

Q2B
For obvious reasons, if the Magistracy of Canopus were GM ordained to be absorbed by another faction, that would pretty much be the deal breaker for me in regards the game.

Q2C
Yes

Q2D
God no. 

Q2D (real question)
Probably.  Although I’d like to see it in the form of new member worlds or the like.  Certainly nothing like a 100FP Potemkin battlegroup or one of your Ponzi schemes 

[Cannonshop]

question 1: No.  call it selfish, but I want to keep what I have built, and if it is lost, I want it to be through PLAY, not Fiat.
Question 2: yes.  the range of factions available is an asset, not a defect.
Question 2b: Not as part of a time-jump, or because of GM fiat.  Those would be deal-breakers for me.  as something played out, in an epic storyline maybe-but the story better be damn good.
Question 2C: Reboot, already?  WE just got it MOVING again.  I realize some of the long-term players bailed when their factions started losing, but not everyone, and we have new guys in who haven't been able to do anything yet.  (Raginar in the TC, Claive with the DC, who just got his orders and is still figuring out what to do.)  I've got some storyline I'm just opening up that will turn stale and old with a time-jump.  I'm not enthusiastic about it, to be honest.
Question 2D: um...no.  We just finally got YOU talking to us all again.

[Daemonknight]

@CS's 2c answer:
Cannon, the issue is that much of what happened(or didn't in most cases), can't be addressed by simply throwing a storyline together. Most people(myself included) were expecting more GM direction from the time jump. We got left with little other than vauge assumptions, and what little bit the player base wrote itself. People I talked to at the time, were waiting for DR6 to tell them what they could/couldn't do before they actually made any plans during the time jump, and some(most) people never got that. Even I really didn't know what was happening, as what I was told was happening, was different than what actually occurred when the game started.

A short timejump, like 5 years, doesn't kill any faction storylines(if you have something that ties into a specific character, thats different, but nothing says it has to play out RIGHT NOW for believability). It allows us to craft a more reasonable "this is what happened" for each faction, as opposed to trying to explain away 20 years of what amounted to unbroken peace(which is about as anti-human nature as you can get).

This allows us to rebalance the factions against each other, and introduce the rules changes we're looking at(among other things, upkeep, to stop the military one ups-manship that is a byproduct of unrestricted build programs), aswell as tidy up what everyone has actually accomplished lately(again, as opposed to everyone just sitting around drinking a beer for 20 years, which is totally NOT BT-esque in my mind).